Your thoughts: what kind of sensor to use?

Hi,

I’d like to add a sensor to my doorbell so I can take a snapshot when there’s someone at the door.

I did this before with a relay and a 433mhz transmitter. But…Our new doorbell looks like this:

motion detector? with a transmitter
sound detector? with a transmitter
distance detector? with a transmitter

all possibilies.
you could even make a self made switch which is connected when your doorbell is not ringing and gets disconnected when someone pulls it.

window/door sensor attached to the pull wire? hard to tell if it’s viable mechanically based on the pic. was thinking the magnets from bike computers might be easy to use on the wire since they’re made to attach to wheel spokes.

Switch would be unreliable because the handle is not always pulled/pushed back fully. Motion sensor on the bell itself would make sense. Will do a search on Aliexpress !

with a good spiral spring a switch could be made reliable, but i think that motion detection pointed on the doorbell would be the easiest option.

This looks nice: https://github.com/Wifsimster/sw420-mqtt (if it only would run on batteries for a long time)

cant you get 5v there somehow?

I could. But that would mean running a long wire from accross the hall. Battery powered would be better. Maybe a 433mhz PIR ? (but I think that would give a lot of false-positives).

if you use a 433 mhz PIR and attach it to the wall beneath the doorbell facing the ceiling, you would only register the movement from the doorbell.

i think thats the easiest way possible. and they are out there with battery.

Since that bell will do its ringing in a certain frequency you could use a microphone and just listen to the frequency band that will cover the bell.

You could also try to create an electric circuit that will close when the gong hits the bell, just like a flood sensor.

a micro snap switch switch on the mounting arm mounted so the swing arm keeps it engaged at rest.
A reed switch on the mounting arm with a magnet on the swing arm.
Mercury switch

Thanks for all the suggestions ! I’ll try to work something out in the coming weeks.

Don’t think a PIR would work as they use infra red to detect movement and the bell does not produce infra red. Reed type motion sensor on the bell would probably be the most obvious way of detecting movement.

I just ordered a few of these Radar Sensors to see how they work for a similar purpose. Alleged to detect through walls it could fit the bill.

That’s a nice solution ! How do you make it talk to HA ?

detection angle: 360°(spherical) no dead ends

i think that will cause detecting a lot of other movements.

If you are going to put a wireless rf433 device in to check if the doorbell is rung, why not just stick an rf433 button on the front (and any other) door to use for the bell?

An alternative is to use an analog solution to your analog doorbell.

Full redundancy in the model pictured.

No batteries required. :wink:

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ESP8266.

Wont read through metal. Block off areas detection is not wanted.

yeah right. create an metal box all around the doorbell :stuck_out_tongue:

Forget the 5v, just send 120V there and get rid of the people ringing the door bell. Problem solved.

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